Author: Ms. R.

If you ever hear a “caw-caw!” sound in an Aldi grocery store, don’t worry: A crow hasn’t gotten trapped in the rafters. Rather, you’ve just overheard a member of the Aisle of Shame (AOS) Facebook group sending out a call in their natural habitat. If another CAW-CAW! rings out in response, expect enthusiastic chatter, hugs, and selfies to follow. AOS fans love interacting online, but they get a special joy out of finding each other in the place that……

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This stone bridge dates from the 13th to early 14th century. During that time, a chapel also stood on the bridge, and later a single room was added that was used for a variety of purposes, including a local jail. The bridge is located at the center of Bradford on Avon, the focus of all the roads. An iconic symbol of the town, the bridge was chosen as the figure to represent several local organizations.  A bridge was mentioned……

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Japan loves Guinness World Records. From the number of vending machines to the world’s smallest escalator, it holds numerous world records and always pushes for more to boast about. Dofuchi Strait in southern Japan was one of its many submissions to Guinness, and in 1996 it was designated as the narrowest strait in the world. Previously unnamed, it was given the name Dofuchi (土渕) at the time of its submission after its hometown of Tonoshō (土庄), and the district……

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Constructed in 1747, no other historic building in Concord was more important to the American Revolution than the Wright Tavern. The two separate events that took place here in 1774 and 1775  played massive roles in the war. On Oct. 11, 1774, on the eve of the revolution, key committees of the provincial congress met at Wright Tavern. The full assembly of Congress also met next door at the town meeting house. On April 19, 1775, one of the first……

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Mar’s Wark was built by John Erskine, the Regent of Scotland and Earl of Mar, who intended the building to be his principal family residence in Stirling. Erskine was the governor of Edinburgh Castle during the regency of Mary of Guise, from 1554 to 1560. However, he turned against her daughter, Mary Queen of Scots, after the murder of her second husband Lord Darnley in 1567. Consequently, he lost his governorship in Edinburgh, but became the hereditary keeper of Stirling Castle, a position……

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Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit the museum inside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, that documents how public health officials have slowed the spread of disease through history. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take you to an incredible site, and along the way you’ll……

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There are more than seventy-five thousand Stolpersteine, or “stumbling stones,” laid into footpaths across Europe. Collectively, it is the largest decentralized memorial of its kind anywhere in the world. Each four-by-four brass stone is placed at the last known residential or working address of a human being who was murdered by the Nazis. Though most of the stones commemorate people who were Jewish, Roma and Sinti, homosexual, or disabled, there were many other groups persecuted by the Nazis–including Black……

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Within a stone’s throw of Luz station stands a building with an ornate facade and a dark history. Once the headquarters of the State Department of Political and Social Order of São Paulo, today this building is a memorial and museum dedicated to the victims of Brazil‘s fascist military dictatorship.  In 1964, a coup d’etat against the government of President Joao Goulart was launched by right-wing extremists in the Brazilian military. The coup had been set in motion with the……

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Excavated in 1965, the Neolithic Croft Moraig (or Croftmoraig) stone circle was constructed over several millennia. Construction began in the second or third millennium B.C., when 14 timber posts were set up in a horseshoe pattern that measured 26 feet by 23 feet. During the later second phase of construction, eight standing stones arranged in a large horseshoe pattern, measuring 26 feet by 20 feet and surrounded by a 55-foot stone bank, replaced the timber posts. In the third and final……

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